A Family Affair
by Eternally Ebony
Summary: With Skipper and Kowalski gone on a Special Training Mission, Rico is left to watch Private. That wouldn't be so bad, if Private's father hadn't shown up, attempting to use Penguin Law to claim his son...
1. Debriefing

**Disclaimer: PoM does not belong to me.**

**The idea started simply with the reading of a Skipper and Private fatherly fic and I thought, "What about the other two?" I was able to find brotherly Kowalski and Private, but all the Rico and Private stuff is romance... so, to spice it up, the first (as far as I can tell, anyway) Fatherly!Rico and Private fanfiction. Also contains Julene, but what else do you expect from me?**

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><p>The debriefing room in the penguin headquarters, though in pristine shape, had almost never been used. This was mostly because the team had most, if not all, their missions together, and whenever Skipper had to interrogate one of them, it was usually in the sanctums of their HQ, strictly between the offending penguin and Skipper. The others learned long ago that the wise way to handle this situation is to ignore it, letting their teammate handle the brunt of Skipper's wrath. They'd do almost anything for each other. Diving into the line of fire directed from Skipper to the other penguin was not one of them.<p>

In this case, however, the debriefing, involving both a series of events Skipper was NOT present for and members of other species, was 'official' enough for Skipper to trap them in the hot box that served as the penguin headquarters' debriefing room. No air-conditioning, unlike the rest of the zoo. A simple black room with a mirror -which the penguins knew was actually a one-way window- and a table with one chair for everyone involved.

Private sat at the far end of the table, nursing a black eye. Of course, it was the least of his injuries -anyone looking at him would know that- but it was the one that was hurting most right now, so it got priority. Rico, sitting next to him, regurgitated an ice pack for his younger teammate, which he took without hesitation. After a while of using slobber covered items, you got used to it. And Rico was getting better at regurgitating non-slimy things. Sometimes it was a joke, but this was far from a joking time. They all knew that. Next to them, Maurice cringed slightly in disgust. Julian admired himself in the one-way window, while Marlene tapped her paws on the table, nervous. Mort simply sat there, blabbering on and on. He was ignored.

The door to the far left of the room slammed open. Skipper, wings folded neatly behind his back, waltzed in, Kowalski in tow. They sat parallel to their fellows, Kowalski scribbling something down on his white board before turning around and tracing a green button on a video recorder with his wing, "Debriefing to begin in three... two... one," With that last word, the button was pressed, and the device turned on. Kowalski quickly took his seat next to Skipper.

"Greetings men... lemurs... Marlene," The otter shyly waved to the camera, "I'm sure you all know why you're here. I leave for three days and come back to the Main Antarctic Militia surrounding our zoo, carrying away some screaming lunatic. Private's hurt," Here, he gestured to the young penguin, "Rico growling at anyone who comes close to Private and unauthorized personal are in my base!" The lemurs and Marlene exchanged glances, "Now, you're lucky I talked the Commander-in-Chief into letting me do the debriefing because, trust me, you wouldn't want one of those upper ranks to do it. They wouldn't hesitate to use force-"

"But Skippah," Private innocently interrupted, "Neither do you," He recoiled at the glare Skipper sent him. Rico growled, causing the leader to raise an eyebrow.

"...Anyways," Skipper, for the most part, ignored that, "Who wants to tell me what happened?" He hadn't expected volunteers, but still frowned when nobody raised their arms/wings, "Come on, I'm not gonna bite. You know me better than that," Still, the silence persisted. The Skipper sighed, "Alright, I'll call on volunteers... Private?"

"Why do I always have to volunteer?" the youngest penguin wondered allowed, before sighing, "Alright, Skippah, I'll start. You see, it all began four days ago, as you were handing out the results of our Annual Physical and Mental Fitness Examinations..."

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><p><strong>...That was short.<strong>

**Don't worry. The next one will be longer. I promise you.**


	2. Day One

**Disclaimer: PoM does not belong to me.**

**Actually, guys, the title lies... starts at Day '0', which is a day before this whole thing started.**

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><p><em>Day 0 -2200 Hours<em>

As members of an Elite Special Operations Squad, Skipper's team had to be in top physical condition at all times. To ensure his methods of training were effective, or maybe just to make more paperwork for the Skipper, the Main Antarctic Militia had him test each member of his team to the full extent of their different physical capabilities, each one excelling in a different area. Rico and Private both passed this test with flying colors each year. Kowalski was the one Skipper worried about this time of year.

He passed most of the test as easily as the others did: combat ability, stealth, strength and endurance were all on par with both other penguins. The same problem he had year over year was instinct. Unlike most penguins, Kowalski used his head for all emergency situations, instead of his gut instinct. For most situations, he didn't need it. For this particular one... well, it was the same thing, year after year.

This year did not differ from the others in any way. You could tell by the disappointed sigh as Skipper neatened his paperwork.

"Attention, gentlemen," The Skipper announced, catching the attention of the three other penguins. At this rate, they knew the results and weren't worried in the least. Kowalski would receive a few hours a day of specialized training, nothing more, "As usual, almost everyone passed the tests with flying colors," He paced in front of him, his face dead tired of the same speech, "and, as usual, the only one failed was Kowalski's instinct test. You know," He paused, scratching his head, "I've always found it ironic that our SMARTEST penguin is always the ONLY penguin to fail any of these tests."

Kowalski groaned, "I know!"

"Anyway, instead of the usual solitary extra two hours of training for the next..." Skipper did the math in his head, "Three weeks-"

"Actually," Kowalski interrupted once again, "It'd be a month and six days."

The Skipper threw his wings up in the air, "Whatever! Instead of that, you and I are going on an expedition for the next three days. No food, no water, no nothing. Just you, me, our instincts, and the great outdoors for seventy-two whole hours! Doesn't that sound like fun?"

The intellectual penguin's face fell, "Couldn't I just clean toilets?"

"In the meanwhile," Skipper ignored Kowalski, "Private and Rico, I expect the two of you to keep this base in pristine condition for the duration of our absence."

"Wait," Private blinked, "You're leaving us... here... alone?"

The Skipper turned back, "Is that going to be a problem Private?" His brow-ridge furrowed, "Am I going to have to bring you with us?"

Hastily, the Private waved his wings in front of his face, "Er, no need, sir. I'll behave."

"Excellent," The Skipper then turned to Rico, "Rico, you're in charge of the Private's well-being-"

"Aw, c'mon!" Rico groaned.

The Skipper glared at him warningly, "Rico, I mean it! You have to take care of Private. Make sure he gets his training in and if anything happens, it's on your head," He turned to pace in front of all his comrades again, "Kowalski and I will be leaving at 0500 hours tomorrow morning. Likely you boys will miss us completely, so I'll be saying goodbye to both of you now. Goodbye. Now, get some shut-eye."

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><p><em>Present<em>

"I know that part of it, Private. I was _there_," Skipper rolled his eyes, exasperated.

Private shook his head, "Yes, I know you were, Skippah, but it is part of the story. I have to explain it for the camera and... Kowalski? Are you actually writing anything down?"

"Uh, kind of," The intellectual replied, turning around his notebook to reveal that, instead of taking notes on the debriefing, he had drawn a picture of a bunny, "Since penguins can't read, there really is no need for a written record. I just needed an excuse to be in here."

"Thank you," Skipper snapped, "for stating the obvious. Anyway, what happened after that Rico?"

"Wait, what?" Marlene blinked, "Skipper, in case you haven't noticed, he can't exactly talk..."

The leader penguin, in response, shook his head, "The same way you can't speak in Russian, Marlene. Rico!"

Saluting, Rico began speaking in the garbled native tongue of the Antarctican people...

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><p><em>Day 1 -0800 Hours<em>

Rico groggily awoke to the dimmed sound of the television playing some mind-numbingly sweet music... obviously the theme of that Lunicorns show Private seemed to love so much.

But wait... the first showing of the _Lunicorns_ was eight on the dot... almost immediately after morning training. Why had he been allowed to sleep in? It was then that he remembered the events of last night. Kowalski and the Skipper were gone for a whole three days. In that amount of time, he could throw a party, blow up something in Kowalski's lab, chase the other animals around... the possibilities were endless!

"Rico? Are you up?"

And with Private's words came two sounds: one was the reprimanding voice of his leader, telling him to take good care of the Private. The other sound was the sound of Rico's hopes for his unrestrained three days come crashing down. Right. He was on Private-sitting duty. The empty plate next to Private told Rico that he already ate... the only thing left was training.

With a tired sigh, Rico hopped out of bed and picked the remote control off the small table, silencing the television. Private turned around to glare at him, "'Ey! I was watching that!"

In response, the psychotic penguin pointed upward: He wanted to get the training over and done with. One sigh later, the Private had gotten up.

"Alright, but let me get the ninja pins first!" Private began ruffling through the supply closet, "We haven't used those in ages!" Rico shrugged, grumbling in his garbled speech, and ascended the later without Private. They had to get this done before the zoo opened at nine, or he would never hear the end of it from Skipper.

The first thing Rico noticed, as he pushed back the fish bowl that served as the doorway between the penguin HQ and the rest of the world was a pair of unknown bird feet at the entrance. Bright orange, and obviously penguin. Rico's eyes followed the feet up to a pair of butch legs, a rounded body covered in black and white feathers, a orange beak with subtle scarring across the bottom and two hard, cold, piercing blue eyes that gazed directly into Rico's. Upon seeing another penguin, they lit up.

"Hello there, good sir!" The penguin extended his wing for Rico to shake, "It is a pleasure to meet you!"

Rico growled in response, jumping above ground and regurgitating a rocket launcher, approaching the other penguin slowly. He backed away, wings raised in a surrendering gesture. The other penguin smiled nervously the whole time, taking a step back with each of Rico's steps forward.

"Hear now, I'm not trying to cause you trouble, I swear! I am just-"

"Hey, Rico! I've got the pins, could you help me set them... up...?"

A silence fell upon the three penguins. Private stood, frozen, as he stared at the unfamiliar penguin. There was something then and there, some kind of connection that Rico wasn't a part of, and couldn't understand. All he knew was that he didn't like it, especially since Private was his responsibility for the next three days. And that meant Skipper would have his hide if this man did anything to the boy.

The tension was broken when the wide-eyed Private spoke, his voice neutral. Something that rarely happened and shocked Rico to his core...

"Father?"

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><p><em>Present<em>

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold up. That bird... was your father?"

Skipper was absolutely livid. He actually had to stand up and pace to keep from throwing something. Mumbling and waving his wings around frantically, all the while aware of his superiors watching from behind the glass. Private watched nervously, wringing his wings and staring at his pacing leader. The mammals watched with wide eyes, while Rico watched in mild boredom. Kowalski subtly cut off the microphone feed.

When he finally calmed down, what seemed like an eternity later, he took a deep breath and sat back down again, "Okay, okay. I'm good. I'm fine..."

"You sure Skippah?" Private asked, his eyes reflecting the concern in his voice.

The lead penguin nodded, "It just kind of took me by surprise, is all. I want to know how it went from that to him getting arrested, but let's not spoil the story. What happened next?"

Marlene spoke, "That was around the time the rest of us started hearing anything... I guess. Rico yelled a lot... and I remember going to see what the noise was about..."

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><p><em>Day 1 -0810<em>

"Hey guys! What's all the noise about?"

Marlene hopped the fence and waltzed into the penguin habitat, just like normal. But unlike normal, instead of four penguins, there were only three, and instead of Skipper and his team, there was Private, Rico, and some penguin she hadn't seen before. What struck her as completely odd, though, was that Rico was squawking at the penguin, feathers ruffled and eyes narrowed. She blinked.

"Uh... guys?"

Private was the first to notice her, the other two preoccupied- with one another, "Oh, 'ello Marlene," he smiled nervously, "So, what brings you here?"

"Oh, I dunno, the noise you guys are making?" The otter responded, "What's all this commotion about, anyways? And who's that guy?"

The man smiled, bowing humbly, "Sam Fishy, at your service, madame," He turned back to the penguins, "Now listen here, good sir, I have a right to see my _son_," Marlene's eyes widened, looking back at Private, "He's still not of age, and that means I still have paternal custody. So you really have no say in the matter."

Rico grumbled, annoyed, but stood aside, reluctantly allowing the penguin -Sam- to rush over and bring Private into a swinging embrace, hugging him close to his own chest. All the while, Private didn't return the embrace, choosing to stare onward, a blank, neutral expression on a face seemingly built for the sole purpose of expressing emotion.

It freaked Marlene out.

"Okay," Private stated, after the hug went on just a bit too long for anyone else's liking, "It's great that you could come and visit, but I don't think it'd be wise for you to stay too long. Skippah and Kowalski will be back in a few days and I really, _really_ don't want to have to explain this to them."

Sam Fishy shook his head, "Don't worry, son. We won't be staying here for too long," Marlene felt the others relax slightly, but something was still off about that sentence, "You and me will be out of here before they even get back."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on, WHAT?" Marlene snapped, "You can't just take him away! Can you?" She turned to the other two, "Can he?"

Fishy slipped a slim wing around her cheek, forcing her to meet him eye to eye, "Listen, madame, I don't think you know much about penguin culture, but that boy is MINE until he turns of age in two years. If he still wants to be a part of a stupid team then, he'll be free to. But until then," he smirked, turning around and lifting the boy's head up in the same manner he had Marlene's, and repeated, "he's mine."

Private didn't respond. He simply yanked his head away from the offending appendage.

"Now, now, boy, is that how I raised you? To disrespect those elder to you, huh?"

Turning away from the man, Private spoke back, his tone as cold and neutral as it normally was cheerful, "I respect people who deserve it."

Fishy smiled, in a way eerily similar to Skipper's smirk. A smile that didn't belong there, "But if I was so 'unworthy' of your respect, would I be giving you the rest of the day to sort out your problems, son? See, I'm not such a bad guy," He turned and waved backward, bumping into something on the way out. With a quick, "Excuse me, sir," He dashed off into the park, leaving behind a shocked party of Marlene, Rico and Private. Julian stared back at the penguin.

"He seems like a nice guy, doesn't he Maurice?" The Aye-Aye shrugged, then pointed his King's attention back to the three shocked animals before them. Julian stared, one eye half-lidded, "Eh, what is wrong with you all? You look like you have seen a ghost! Eh, you haven't seen one, have you?"

"Julian," Marlene placed a paw on his shoulder, subtly forcing him downward, "You might want to sit down for this..."

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><p><em>Day 1 -0840 hours<em>

"So, let me get this straight," The Aye-Aye shook his head, "That penguin was Private's old man, and he wants his son back?" He stroked his chin, "Can he do that?"

Private shook his head, "I have absolutely no idea. Penguin Law is something I haven't been taught yet, and Rico doesn't seem to care much for it... er, Rico?" Private waved his flipper in front of his still shocked friend's face.

"Penguin Law?" Julian, whom had half-paid attention to the entire explanation, suddenly perked up, "What does this have to be doing with Penguin Law?"

Marlene shrugged, herself still partially shocked by the most recent happenstance, "I have no idea, to be honest, but apparently it's pretty important... why?"

"Because," The King raised his fist to his chest, smiling proudly, "I am being a certified penguin lawyer!"

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><p><em>Present<em>

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Skipper interrupted yet again, "How is it possible that someone like you," He jabbed a wing in Julian's direction, "know anything about something as intricate and honorable as Penguin Law and Tradition?"

"That's what we said," Private responded, "Personally, I didn't believe it at first myself, but he really does know his stuff, Skippah."

"How?"

Julian shrugged, picking something out of his ear and flicking it into the corner, "Eh, Maurice? Could you be explaining?"

Once again, the Aye-Aye sighed, left out to dry by his King, "Well, you see, in order to become King of the Lemurs, you have to do one of three things... at least on our island. You either have to defeat a fossa in combat, get married, or become knowledgeable of the law of all other animals in Africa. And believe me," He leaned in closer, whispering into Skipper's ear-hole, "traveling around Africa was the easiest thing for him to do, if you know what I'm saying."

"Loud and clear, mammal," Skipper nodded, "So what happened after you got over that shock?"

"Well," Private continued, "We had to come up with some sort of plan..."

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><p><em>Day 1 -0900 hours<em>

A large thump echoed through the mostly quiet HQ, "Eh," Julian stared downward at the large book laid in front of him, "I don't remember da other Penguin Law book being so big... or thick."

"It's a law book, Julian. And a relatively new one at that," Private responded, flipping the pages through the scribble-like text, "You have to expect quite a few changes from the last one."

"All I know is dat da gloss is smooth and shiny," Julian smiled, eyes half-lidded in mock ecstasy as he rubbed one paw up and down the books leopard-seal leather cover, "Ohhhh yeah..."

His hand was slapped away harshly by an angry looking Rico, who snapped, in his own garbled language, to get on with it. Everyone stared at him, wide-eyed. He snapped at them, "Wha?"

"Anyways..." Marlene turned her attention back to the part of the group that wasn't crabby and moody, "So what if we can't find this miracle loophole you guys are hoping for? What then?"

"Hm..." Julian turned a page in the large book before turning back to the otter, "Well, if he was to be found guilty of any major crime, he'd lose all of his rights, including rights of parentage. He'd have no claim to da smaller penguin."

Maurice raised an eyebrow, skeptic, "And that chances of that are...?"

"Not what you'd think," Private muttered, but didn't elaborate. Nobody forced him.

Julian stroked his chin, tongue running over his bottom lip as he thought, "Well, I can tell you one thing, our chances would be looking better if we had a penguin to represent Private. Not dat I don't know my stuff, but if der was a penguin with a respectful standing, people would be taking him more seriously. For some reason, most penguin jurors did not take me seriously while I trained..."

"Wonder why..." Marlene mumbled.

"So it's settled!" Julian slammed the book shut, startling the five animals surrounding him, "I will be searching here for a loophole we can be using! Marlene, you stay with me and take notes on anything I find," Marlene raised an eyebrow in question, but didn't have time to respond, "We'll need someone to go find da bossy penguin... smaller penguin, you do dat. Mort, you go with him because you'll just annoy me, and get in the way."

"HOORAY!" Mort shouted, jumping up with a cheer. Private sighed, resigned.

"In de meanwhile, we'll need da throw-uppy penguin to go and spy on da mean penguin. It will be dangerous, full of hazards... which is why Maurice will be going with him!"

Maurice's eyes bulged, "Say what?"

"Alright everyone! We are to be splitting up now! GO! Not you, Marlene," Julian handed her a notebook, "You will be my smarty-penguin, and do everything I say and write things down. I will read this book and bark things at you, like da bossy penguin."

Marlene grumbled to herself, flipping open the notebook to page one.

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><p><em>Day 1 -1500 hours<em>

_Julian and Marlene:_

Marlene sighed as she scribbled out yet another dead-end loophole found in the Penguin's law book. Frankly, she didn't understand why penguins would need so many rules, but if it helped one of her friends, then she would gladly thumb through the book herself. Except she had no idea how to read it. It definitely wasn't written in any sane language... looking at it, the writing seemed more like Morse code than actually words. Julian, surprisingly, understood it quite well, translating when necessary.

And there's where the confusion kicked in. Julian.

He wasn't doing this for any apparent reason. In exchange for helping the penguins, Julian usually got some reward or promise of some kind. When he didn't, it was usually because what they asked of him boosted or offended his ego too much for him to think of such a thing.

"Hey, Julian..."

The lemur king snapped back at her, "Shush! I think I am being close to uncovering da secret of... oh wait, scratch that. He'd need to be blind in his left eye. And deaf in his right ear."

Marlene shook her head, "Why are you helping them anyway?" Upon the confused look of the lemur, she added, "The penguins, I mean. I thought you hated them."

"I do. But if I rescue da little penguin from da papa penguin, den Skipper will be owing me, you see?" He looked up from his law book for a moment to gesture to himself, then went back to studying, "Plus, I want to be showing off MY skills. Not da smarty penguin with his technology, or da throw-uppy penguin with his throw-uppyness. Dis is something I am good at. And I will show my teacher dat I CAN win a real court case!" Julian stood, pointing upward, "You hear dat, Senor Pluma? I WILL win this case!"

Marlene backed away a little, eyes wide.

Julian realized the scene he was making and coughed, having the decency to blush, "Eh, so yeah... and also..."

"Also?"

"Er, nothing," Julian engrossed himself in his book again, blushing brighter. Marlene couldn't help but wonder what his third reason was...

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><p><em>Rico and Maurice:<em>

Maurice groaned, looking from his pair of binoculars to Rico, "So... what exactly are we looking for?"

Rico growled at him, briefly, before looking back through his own binoculars at Sam Fishy, preparing a small maintenance building for Private's metaphorical homecoming. It made his blood boil in a way few things did. He didn't understand the hatred behind Private's eyes when he had stared at Fishy, nor how the penguin's attitude suddenly went from polite to smug when he held his paternal rights over their heads. All he knew for sure was that it was fear in the boy's eyes when the penguin had mentioned dragging him home. It was more than enough fuel for the absolute loathing burning inside his gut.

Oh, what he wouldn't give to chuck a dynamite at the shack...

But no, not only would he be arrested for murder, but he'd be breaking one of the penguin's most sacred laws. Parental Rights were treasured amongst the flightless aves, and breaking those laws were almost as bad as murder. At the very least, he'd be imprisoned for quite some time. So, no, he couldn't just outright blow up the guy... yet.

His promise to Skipper and Private's emotionless expression came into mind, and he continued staring at the hut, hoping, praying, that he would soon have an excuse to go in their and simply blow the place up.

* * *

><p><em>Private and Mort:<em>

"It's no use!" Private cried, growing more and more despondent as the time passed, "This place is too big! We'll never find them!"

Though he was some combination of desperate and depressed, Private's statement did have a point to it. The forests that Skipper took to using during training were huge. They had been here numerous times before on training exhibitions and each of them, minus Skipper, still needed a map to find their way around. The trees were tall, the branches at least three feet above any of the penguins' jumping range and the animals around here had always been less than friendly. Nevertheless, Private was certain Skipper and Kowalski were somewhere in the area. They HAD to be. There was nowhere else.

Mort, meanwhile, groaned as his stomach gave it's second growl of the hour... that had only begun three minutes ago, "I'm hungry! I'm tired! Are we there yet? I want a snack!"

"Oh, for goodness sake, Mort!" Private snapped, losing his cool for all of ten seconds, "It's a forest! There's probably food on the ground underneath your feet!"

Mort raised one of his feet, looking under it and picked up the strange looking metal thingy underneath. He picked up a rock underneath his other foot and proceeded to shove both of them in his mouth, chewing. Private turned at the sound of rocks grinding against teeth and, upon seeing the two stones, felt something click. One of the instincts Skipper had always trained them so hard to listen to. Without thinking, Private tore the two stones from Mort's mouth, examining them. Same weight, same smell... yup, definitely the same stones.

"Mort, you're brilliant!" Private cried.

The small lemur looked up, smiling, "I'm brilliant! Hooray!...why am I brilliant?"

"Don't you see Mort?" Excited, Private began rambling, probably forgetting the lemur's existence entirely, "This stone," He held up the darker of the rocks, "is flint. And this metal here is steel. They're one of the most commonly used fire-starting equipment in... well, all of history!" The boy gathered some twigs, setting them in a circle, "I'll use them to light a fire. Skippah will see the smoke signals, come to investigate, and we can tell him what's going on! Positively brilliant, right Mort?" No response, "Mort?"

Said lemur appeared from behind a nearby tree, chewing on a branch, "What?" He responded to Private's glare, "I got hungry."

He was promptly ignored.

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

Skipper had the decency to blush, "Eh, yeah... sorry about the whole 'not seeing the smoke messages' thing."

"At the time, we were trapped in a bear's cave where my stupid instincts had detected a large amount of fish," Kowalski scoffed, hitting himself in the stomach, "Nice going, guts!"

The others stared at him, wondering just what being trapped in a bear cave did to his sanity. Skipper to charge again, "Right... so, yeah, we couldn't see your smoke signals. Sorry Private. And if you were REALLY good at penguin law, you would have known you could have appealed his claim. It wouldn't have done much, but it would have bought you some time!"

"Time which we did not end up needing!" Julian snapped, "Besides, everything turned out fine, right?" He threw his arms up, whacking Private in the process. This wouldn't have been so bad, had he not hit the boy's bad eye. A cry of pain from the Private and Rico had Julian pinned up against a wall, growling in his face. It took Kowalski, Skipper and Maurice to pry him off.

"Control your temper, man!" Skipper scolded as they sat back down, "Marlene, swap places with Ringtail before Rico decides he's had enough. Private, continue."

"Unfortunately, none of our efforts bore any fruit in time..."

* * *

><p><em>Day 1 -1700 hours<em>

"We weren't able to find the others," Private reported dejectedly, covered in soot, "and Mort blew up my signal fire, so we can't be counting on that to get their attention anytime soon..." Julian scowled in response, glaring at Mort, who, also covered in soot, was smiling innocently.

Maurice joined the party a few moments later, "Sorry, your majesty... nothing to report. He was just setting up for Private in a maintenance storage house not too far from here," Rico huffed, looking annoyed.

"UGH! You mean dis was all for naught!" Julian snapped, bringing his fist down upon the table, hard. It was at that moment that an ominous knock came from the door in the HQ. Oh, how the animals wished they could ignore it, but all six of them knew that wasn't a good idea. Instead, Maurice reluctantly walked over to the door and pulled it open.

"Well, it's about time," Fishy commented with a charming smile, inviting himself in, "I was about to take the lot of you to court for violating Paternal Rights. Son, you ready?"

The Private sighed, any hope of escaping this fate exhaled in a single breath, "As ready as I'll ever be, I assume," Fishy nodded, apparently pleased, and walked out the door, motioning for Private to join him. The boy dragged his feet, walking over slowly, but was stopped by a familiar wing, "Rico?"

Quickly, the heavy-set penguin heaved a wooden frame, handing it to the boy. Within the frame was four familiar figures, each one in a different battle-ready pose. Private smiled at the familiar portrait, remembering all the trouble Skipper had gone through to get rid of the lot of them. Looks like they missed one...

Without warning, the Private wrapped his wings around Rico, clutching tightly to his chest feathers, "Rico," he whispered as hoarsely as possible, "Promise me this won't be for long. Promise me?" All Rico could do to respond was embrace back, hoping Private got the message. Command or not, he WOULD find a way to protect the boy, Penguin Law be damned!

Fishy sighed, tired of waiting, "I gave you hours to take care of this already!" With little warning, he grasped Private at the scruff of his neck, pulling him violently away from Rico. They watched, helpless, as the young Private was dragged away to an unknown fate.

Behind Fishy and Private, the door slammed shut.

* * *

><p><strong>Wow this is long! Like, a little more than ten pages! I thought I'd never finish it... but yeah, they accomplished all I wanted them too... a few notes though:<strong>

**There are a few references to episodes in here. Two, actually. First one is kinda subtle, second one is more obvious. Imaginary internet cookie to whoever gets them both!**

**I would like to thank a concerned reader, who actually cared enough to PM me about the update... its been forever, but I finally got it done! Mostly cause of you! So thanks, KristintheKittyKat.**

**It's been a while sinced I've written anything, so be honest and brutal with the reviews. Oh, wait. (holds up tomato proof shielf) Now do it.**

**Did I mention this was long?**


	3. Day Two

**Disclaimer: PoM does not belong to me.**

**A few notes: I honestly had no idea what I was going to put into this chapter. Had a moderate outline for the last and next chapters, but none for this one. Tell me how it is, okay?**

**Apparently, there were more references than I thought. :) To make it up, everyone gets a free cookie! (Puts out platter)**

**And to KristinTheKittyKat... I did not come up with the name, seriously. I got it out of one of the PoM video games... the one for the Game Boy?...Right.**

**Long chapter is long. Just warning you.**

**Now, let's continue, shall we?**

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

The entire room was engulfed in silence. Rico risked a glance to the young Private, who was staring mindlessly on the plain cement ground, his wing tracing circles on the table in front of him. The elder penguin's expression hardened, before softening slightly as he placed his wing on the other's shoulder. Private didn't turn, but smiled lightly at the weight, taking comfort in the light touch of the ebony feathers.

After a moment, Skipper prompted the group, "Okay, and afterwords?"

"That's it?" Marlene snapped, "Just 'okay'? No angry rants or paranoid delusions or... or... general Skipper-ness?"

"Marlene," The leader of the penguins shook his head, as if disappointed, "Clearly what happened traumatized Private. I'm not so tactless as to traumatize him further by forcing him to focus on that one, scarring memory. I'd rather move on and get this over with as soon as possible."

"Mighty kind of you," Maurice drawled dryly, keeping one eye on the ever oblivious Mort, ready to jump the moment he did something that could get him in trouble.

Missing or ignoring the sarcastic tone of the Aye-Aye, Skipper nodded and turned his head towards the others, "Alright, boys," Skipper's voice rang out, "Tell me what happened after Private left."

* * *

><p><em>Day 2 -0400 Hours<em>

It had been a long, sleepless night.

Julian, determined not to lose, spent the entire night restlessly pouring over the thick law book. Bloodshot eyes scanned rapidly back and forth, looking over every foreign scribble for even a hint of a miracle; a hint of anything that could spell victory. Beside him, Marlene, half-asleep, rested on his lap, only barely being able to keep from falling into a deep slumber. With each page turn, her half-asleep mind forced her eyes back open, looking with some false hope at the lemur. When she still saw that stubborn determination in his eyes, she closed her eyes and fell, once again, into a light half-slumber.

Rico had spent the night in an entirely different way. Throughout the silent dark hours since Private's departure he had alternated between a restless slumber and mournfully flipping through an old scrap book. The pictures dated from the earlier days of the team to shortly after Marlene's arrival at the zoo. Even though some of the pictures were old, and the book itself was falling apart due to lack of attention, each photograph still held a precious memory attached.

Rico sighed loudly at the sight of one photograph, and Maurice had to move closer just to get any idea of what the psychotic bird was thinking. On the black and white photograph was imprinted the image of six birds. The first three he recognized as Skipper, Kowalski and Rico. There were two unrecognized birds hanging in the back of the photo. And in the middle foreground, Skipper's flipper wrapped around his shoulders, was a younger bird, still dotted with small patches of fluffy gray down. It took a moment, but Maurice finally recognized the younger bird as Private, and although it shouldn't have, it surprised him. None of the other pictures were from that far back.

Rico grunted suddenly, snapping the book shut, and for a moment Maurice thought the penguin didn't want him to see something so personal. Only when he stood and headed for the rooftop exit did the lemur realize that Rico was tired of waiting, tired of the politics and false hope. He just wanted Private back, and he wasn't going to just sit around anymore. He needed action.

And that action just might cost them Private.

So, perhaps against his better judgment, Maurice grabbed and restrained the bird from behind, "Look, I know you miss the kid, but try to relax! Blowing up his dad isn't exactly gonna help!"

"He's got a point, you know," Marlene stated drowsily when Rico growled in response. The slam of the book had forced her out of the cycle of half-sleep, "We're going to figure this out, and we're going to get him back. You've just got to be patient."

Rico grumbled, but took a seat next to Julian anyway. The lemur turned the page again, oblivious to the surrounding happenstance. Suddenly, without warning, he jumped out, "I've got it!" He declared, to the other's surprise, "I've got- oh. Never mind."

The entire group groaned as they sat back down, Julian thumbing through the vast book once again. All the while, they hadn't even disturbed the sleeping Mort.

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

"So you did nothing all day?" Skipper's browridge raised, his scowl directed at the opposite end of the table.

Marlene scowled right back, "Hey, it's not like we could do anything else!" She threw her arms up in exasperation, "We all assumed that a rescue attempt would get us hunted down by your Moron Anaconda Military or whatever it is! At the time we didn't know-"

Julian shushed her, bringing his fingers up to her lips, "Shush! You'll spoil the story!"

He was rewarded, naturally, by a bunch of odd stares. Maurice raised an eyebrow, then spoke somewhat hesitantly, "Your majesty? You do know that this isn't 'story time' right?" He stared at the blank expression for a moment before continuing, "That's we're here for an important reason?"

"But of course!" Julian scoffed, "I _**am **_the one who went to Penguin Law School, you know!"

Mort, whom had been wrapped up in his own tail to prevent one of his random, yet comical, urges to touch Julian's feet, stopped squirming and looked up, "But I thought you were only there for three days..."

"Shut up a little, Mort!" Julian snapped, then pouted when he noticed the snickers of the surrounding animals.

"Alright..." Skipper smirked, rolling his eyes, "What's the next _important_ thing that happened?"

Julian put a finger to his chin, stroking it thoughtfully, "Well... I suppose the next significant development was around sixteen-hundred hours..."

Marlene's head jerked up, "Wait, when's that?"

"Around four. Why?"

The otter's eyes widened, "NO. You're not gonna-"

"It was just after Maurice took Rico and Mort out for a walk..."

* * *

><p><em>Day 2 -1600 Hours<em>

"Julian, you must've read through that thing, like, five times. Give it a rest!" Marlene was careful to mask the concern on her face, trying her best not to let exhaustion get to her like it clearly had to the lemur. In a world ruled by insanity, she took the often difficult role of semi-sane mediator and, even as two penguins' worlds fell apart, she had to remain the strong, logical one. Even if that meant being the pessimist every now and again. Briefly glancing up, to ensure that nobody was coming back, she approached Julian and softly placed a paw on his shoulder.

The lemur shrugged off her paw, bloodshot eyes focused on the book in front of him, "No! I cannot be stopping now! I'm close! I know it..." His voice trailed off as exhaustion once again overtook his delicate system. Marlene shook her head, knowing that, unused to hard labor, Julian's body was taking the sudden abuse harder than a normal person's would.

"Listen," The otter sighed, before continuing, "I didn't want to say anything in front of Rico and Mort, but I don't think we can help Private."

Her statement actually stunned the lemur enough to get his nose out of the law book.

"Hey, I'm sorry!" She stated immediately, "but you've been looking through that book all night. You have to face it! This miracle loophole you're looking for... it just doesn't exist. No matter how much we wish otherwise... that jerk is going to be taking Private. It's over," Her eyes moved to the floor, downcast.

To her surprise, Julian scoffed, "I never thought YOU of all people, Marlene, were a pessimist!"

"I'm not a pessimist," She rebutted, "just... a realist. And I really believe that maybe, just maybe... we've lost."

Julian's reaction was surprising. He looked up suddenly, shock coating his eyes before pouncing, knocking the otter to the ground. She brought herself up slightly, only to meet Julian's eyes, still wild and disbelieving, "NO!" He shouted into her face, "Don't be saying dat! We can't lose! ..._**I**_ can't lose!" He calmed down some, "I can't be losing... not again..." He moved off of her, head slumping into his lap.

Marlene, to say the least, was shocked. She sat up next to him and placed a comforting paw on his shoulder. Julian shook it off.

"You... and Maurice... and Rico..." He began, "You cannot be doing much of anything in this situation. _**I **_can. I'm da only one here who knows a thing about Penguin Law. To know dat the whole thing is pointless..." He shook his head, "NO! It's not pointless! I know der is a way to beat him! Just... need a little more time..."

The king lemur's eyes closed, his head angling itself away from Marlene. Without thinking, she grasped his chin in her paw and forced him to look her in the eye. They simply stared at each other for a moment, before both leaned in. Their lips met...

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

"WHOA! WHOA! WHOA!" Skipper snapped suddenly, waving his wings frantically in front of his face, "Private's been traumatized enough these past few days, he doesn't need to hear THAT!"

Maurice turned slightly to the side and added, "None of us do."

Ignoring that, Skipper continued, "What relevance does this have to Private's case?"

Ignoring Marlene, who was blushing and hiding her face in embarrassment, Julian replied without shame, "You'll see, Skipper. Just be letting me continue."

Skipper glared at him before sighing, "Oh, alright. But Rico! If this gets any higher than PG-13, cover the Private's ears!"

Rico nodded.

* * *

><p><em>Day 2 -1602 Hours<em>

...and pulled apart quickly, realizing what they'd just done. Both stared, wide-eyed, at the other. The air around them echoed with the awkward silence that comes after a first kiss. It took a moment for either of them to recover and, naturally, it was Marlene. She turned away from Julian and grabbed the book that had, previously, been tossed to the side.

"Maybe... maybe there is a way," She muttered, trying to break the awkward that surrounded them. With that, she turned to the back of the book and rapidly flipped through the pages, only to be stopped by a paw on top of her own. Julian's eyes met her's once more before he shook his head.

"Dis is the wrong section, Marlene," He shook his head, turning it towards the book as he prepared to turn the page, "Da laws on Paternity are... back..."

The unexpected pause caused Marlene to glance back up. For once, she was unable to read the lemur: he seemed to be in some sort of shock, but it wasn't quite that either. After a moment, his expression changed once again. This time, the only word she could come up with to describe it was elated.

Before she could ask what was on his mind, Julian jumped up, excitement lighting his eyes, "Dis is it! I cannot be believing dat I missed dis! I-" Suddenly he paused, his excitement fading rapidly and replaced by a look that could almost be worry. Almost. His eyes scanned the page rapidly, before turning back to the otter, "Get the others. Now."

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

Skipper sat, perhaps too literally, at the edge of his seat, "Well?" He persisted as Julian paused. The lemur smirked, keeping mum for once in his life, "Come on, what happens next?"

"Ah, ah, ah," The lemur wagged his finger, almost scolding the other leader, "What did I tell you about spoiling the story?"

The penguin growled, "I'll spoil your-"

"Skipper!" Marlene interrupted, still burning under her fur from the earlier tale, "Can we _please_ just get this over with already?"

The penguin took a lasting glance at the animals across the table before sighing in resignation, "Fine. Continue the story."

"Well," The lemur continued, "if you insist. It took Marlene about half of an hour to round up everyone again..."

* * *

><p><em>Day 2 -1630 Hours<em>

When the remainder of the group gathered once again in the penguin's HQ, they were hoping for good news. Marlene had looked restless, anxious... but not excited when they met up with her at the front gates of the zoo. She had explained that Julian found... something... but hadn't stated what it was. Somehow, the group doubted that even she truly knew what was going on. And when they saw Julian's face, lined with worry and etched with a touch of panic, then they knew what they were going to receive wasn't necessarily good news.

Julian calmed himself with a breathe before addressing his fellows, "Alright, I have good news and bad news. Da good news is dat Fishy actually has no say in de matter of Private's custody."

Mort was the only one to jump up and shout happily at the news. Maurice raised an eyebrow skeptically. Marlene blinked in surprise, but didn't actually move. Rico didn't do anything to signal his surprise or disbelief. He was too busy planning out Fishy's murder. Mort chewed contently on a walnut.

"Could you explain that for me?" Maurice asked, "Cause I'm a bit confused."

Julian groaned, "Must I be explaining EVERYTHING?" He sighed in exasperation, "Der are two ways to determine the paternity of a child. De first way is a DNA test; da second way, da one more commonly used one, is for da child to recognize da parent."

"Which Private did when Fishy showed up," Marlene interrupted.

The lemur king shushed her, "Let me finish! Anyways," He cleared his throat, "De only way either of these tests are considered invalid is if de penguin who's paternity is being questioned is wanted for any crime. Which," Julian grasped the law book tightly in his hands, flipping through pages rapidly before reaching the correct one, "Fishy just happens to be," Julian turned the book towards the others, presenting it's contents to the entire group. At first, all they saw was the scribbles that made up the penguin language. Then, in the upper left hand corner, they noticed a sketch that had, at first, blended in with the text. But, if one looked closely enough, they could see the outline of a penguin.

A penguin who looked just like Fishy.

The group gasped as Julian continued, "Dis section of the law book is used only for documenting the most wanted criminals in the penguin community. You know, like Blowhole or de Red Squirrel... which is why I didn't think to look back here. Penguins rarely make it on dis list."

"Wait," Maurice's eyes went wide at a sudden revelation, "You mean we handed Private over to a hardened criminal?"

"Yeah, dat was de bad news," Julian admitted nonchalantly.

"Well, what'd he do?" Marlene asked.

Julian's eyes skimmed over the text, "Hmm..." his finger swirled gently down the edge of the page until he came across what he was looking for, slamming the finger on the edge of the print, "Ah! According to dis, he is wanted for... conspiracy, duh, creating and selling weapons of mass destruction, arson, kidnapping, illegal genetic experiments, murder of-" Julian's voice stopped suddenly. After a second, he continued, "Murder of de sister of General Normandy. She-" Julian faltered for a second, "she had been about to lay an egg when she went missing. When de found her... she had been cut open. No sign of de egg's remains."

Silence engulfed the HQ.

After a moment, the familiar sound of retching echoed around the group. Rico, armed with a RPG, headed towards the later. Once again, it was Maurice who stopped him from blowing Fishy to smithereens.

"Hey man," The Aye-Aye flinched at the violent glare in the penguin's eyes before continuing, "We don't have to worry about being arrested anymore, but if what's in that book is even half-true, then Fishy would have no problem using Private against us."

Marlene lowered the firing end of the RPG so that it was aimed at the floor and not their heads, "He's right, Rico. We need a plan first. If we go charging in without one, Fishy will HURT Private," She made sure the message was clear and loud for the voiceless penguin. After a moment of hesitation, he sat down at the table, Julian sitting next to him. Rico hacked up an off-white piece of paper, upon which the lemur began scribbling.

It would be a long night of planning.

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

"I nevah knew my father did all that stuff," Private commented at the end of the tale, "I only knew that he was bad," Briefly, he thought back, "Wonder what happened to that egg, though..."

"...Yeah, me too," Skipper agreed, not meeting Private's eyes. Julian opened his mouth, but one look from the leader penguin and he shut it again, "Private, you're up," The younger bird looked up at his captain in surprise.

"Me?"

"Yes, you," Skipper repeated, rolling his eyes, "You have your own side to this story, Private. So enlighten us: What happened during your stay at Fishy's?"

The boy looked down at the table, wondering what to say. After a moment of silence, when Skipper opened his beak for a moment, he started, "Alright, Skippah. We arrived at Fishy's compound around 0200 hours..."

* * *

><p><em>Day 2 -0200 Hours<em>

"Well, here we are," Fishy smiled politely, walking into the building with Private on his heel. The storage shed had been renovated to accommodate the two penguins, with a cooler for food and two simple beds. There were no decorations, nothing to indicate individuality. It was plain, simple; exactly as someone like Skipper would set it up.

Fishy was nothing like Skipper.

Private's eyes narrowed as he glanced fleetingly at the bird he called father. Fishy yawned a little too loudly and glanced to a non-existent watch on his wing, "Oh my, is it that late already?"

"It's two in the morning," Private responded, careful to leave the emotion out of his voice. He was afraid of what would creep into his verbal responses if he didn't, "Technically, it's the next day."

"Early, then," Fishy responded coolly, "Make sure to get a good morn's sleep, _**son**_," He stressed the word, and Private didn't know why; mocking him, perhaps? "We'll be having a long day ahead of us tomorrow," His voice was mock-soothing as he lowered it and muttered, "Sweet dreams, _**son**_."

Private had no sweet dreams that night.

* * *

><p><em>Day 2 -0800 Hours<em>

The young penguin was somewhere between an unrestful slumber and actual consciousness when a gentle, almost silent creek interrupted the cycle. Private turned, blinking his eyes at the sight of a trap door snap shut in the center of the room.

He _knew_ it!

Waiting a precious few seconds before moving, Private shot out of bed and quickly scrambled over to where the secret passage was. The thing wasn't large, and blended almost seamlessly with the floor; one would have to look quite closely to determine the slight cracks that showed the small hole in the floor. To any other animal it would seem like there was no way in, but Private, as much as he hated this fact, knew his father very well. He cautiously slid the tip of his wing into the crack and, sure enough, the handle was within reach of his wing, though just barely.

He'd taken precautions this time: he was being wary about Private. At any other time this thought would have made the young penguin grin, but at this particular moment he was far too concerned with whatever his father was planning for the penguin world.

Even whilst being lifted slowly, the trap door still gave tiniest of creeks, and Private half-expected his father to still be down there. Luck was on his side at this particular moment, though. Fishy must have descended further down the tunnel that lied at the base of the trap door. Using the dim glow of a lantern further down, Private, as quietly as he could, trailed behind the source, using the walls and rocks to prevent his shadow from giving him away.

At the end of the trail were two doors, side by side. Fishy hung the lantern in between the doors and entered the right one, behind which Private could see beakers and test tubes, much like Kowalski's lab. Knowing he couldn't understand chemistry even if he tried, Private entered the room to the left. And blinked.

This room was about as large as the other room, but felt bigger due to the simple fact that it had fewer items within it. Simply a large screen that, more likely than not, was hooked up to some sort of out-of-sight computing device and a pedestal covered with cloth. Ignoring the pedestal for a moment, Private waddled over to the large screen, paranoia compelling him to glance over his shoulder every few moments, before pressing a small, almost unnoticeable button that had a coloration only slightly different from the rest of the machine. He took a few steps back as a keyboard slid out from a hidden panel within the wall below the giant monitor.

This was were Private was thankful that he knew Kowalski. If he hadn't, then he'd have never had learned, partially through complicated explanation and partially through observation, how to work computers, and how to access any information he needed. These skills were mostly useless, as he could only read English in the most basic degree... better than his teammates, probably, but that was beside the point.

Private blinked as he scrolled through the contents of the computer, modified to transmit in the penguin's native tongue. Not sure what he was truly up to, Private used a fascinating function of computers called 'Recent History' to bring up what his father had been looking at last.

_/:Projects; Project Code Omega-Beta; Profiles; View profiles in order of Priority::/_

_Profile 01:/ Normandy, [REDACTED]_

_Specialty: General_

_DNA Sequence: Code Omega-Beta Alpha-RNA_

_DNA Priority:Primary_

_Profile 56:/ [REDACTED], Skipper_

_Specialty: Agent_

_DNA Sequence: Code Omega-Beta Alpha-NA_

_DNA Priority: Secondary_

_Profile 31:/ Rockgut, Buck_

_Specialty: Agent_

_DNA Sequence: Code Omega-Beta Alpha-Four_

_DNA Priority: Tertiary_

...and the list just went on and on, listing names and profiles. A few Private knew personally; some he had only heard of; most still were completely unfamiliar. Some had more data than others. Some had their own unique sets of data. Others still didn't have a complete DNA sequence. All Private could do was blink at this. What... exactly was he staring at?

"Ah, enjoying a little mid-morning reading?" A surprisingly chirpy voice behind him inquired, and Private, shocked, turned around. Fishy smirked, "Now, don't look as if you haven't done this before. If anything, I should be upset that I didn't think you would," His expression, dark and knowing, told Private another story.

"W-what the heck am I staring at?" Private demanded, fighting his panic. He needed to know, "What the heck would you need the DNA of Skippah and Rockgut for? What the heck?"

Fishy scoffed, almost disappointed, "Now Private, don't use words like that. Words like that are for the common rabble. Not for us," He ignored any and all responses Private had ready for that statement and waltzed over to the podium, shedding the cloth covering from it. Private blinked; upon the pedestal was a simple, ordinary penguin egg.

Wait, what?

"I'm going to do to your little brother here what I should have done to you, all those years ago," Fishy caressed the outside of the glass with the edge of his wing. Private's eyes were wide: He was still stuck on the 'little brother' part of the past statement, "I've going to modify him using the DNA of the greatest heroes and villains in penguin history. Of course, his DNA is largely based off of myself. He's still in the earliest stages of development; the embryo isn't even fully formed yet. And with a special psychic imprint to myself, he'll do whatever I tell him."

Private, at that moment, was glad he had instinct. It was all he could use with the shock numbing his brain, "You're creating a super soldier."

"Not just _**A **_super soldier, son," Fishy shook his head, "_**THE**_ super soldier! With this egg, I could easily conquer not only the Main Antarctic Militia, but all forms of lesser government!"

"One tiny flaw in your plan," Private snapped, now coming out of his shock. _THIS_ he was more familiar with; the constant scheming, the countless sabotaged plans. It all fell into place, "You won't be able to do anything in the meanwhile. You'll have to spend all your time -and not just free time, _all _time- raising and educating your super soldier. He won't hatch ready to destroy countries, after all."

Fishy's smirk, implanted during his explanation, grew larger, "Oh, but that's what you are for, my son. While I'm out preparing for the invasion, you'll be caring for your little brother's egg."

An orange beak parted in disbelief, "You tore me away from my friends and my life because you needed someone to play **baby-sitter**?"

"But of course," Fishy smiled cruelly, petting the top of Private's head, "What other use would I have for my failed heir."

"In order to have an heir, you'd need something for him to inherit," Private snapped back.

Fishy smirked, "Go back to the surface, boy. Sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. You know, moving and all that," And after a pause, during which Private had gotten all the way to the door, added, "And don't even think of trying to escape; the entire shack is rigged with booby-traps. My suggestion? Just go straight to bed. It'll be easier on everyone in the long run."

And Private believed him, but only because he knew him. For once, he did as his father told and went straight to bed.

* * *

><p><em>Day 02- 1600 Hours<em>

It must have been hours before Private trusted that the REM stage of sleeping had kicked in for his father, whom had returned to the surface nearly an hour ago. Before that, he hadn't tried escaping. He knew not to push his luck; the booby-traps were probably a bluff, but he'd use some hidden camera to make things even more difficult than they were now.

He gently slid his wing underneath the trapdoor and tried to accomplish two things: One) Get down there without attracting his father's attention and Two) Cursing at his own frustration. After what seemed like an eternity later, the door seemed to take pity on him and the handle greeted his searching flipper. The young penguin suppressed a pleased grin before prying the door open. He winced at the squeak -but his father seemed not to notice or awaken. Cautiously, Private closed the door above him, slowly guiding it downwards into it's closed position. Satisfied, he now threw caution to the wind and moved as quickly as he could through the laser grid that served as the lab's protection. To any normal person, it would have been terrifying. To Private, it was just insulting.

Private moved into the left door quickly, too anxious and his heart beating too rapidly. What he was about to do went against everything he had ever been taught. It went against his very moral code. But... in a way, he didn't. The child would have been psychically inclined to do everything their father would have told him; a fate Private had been lucky enough to avoid. It was, in a very strange way, the best thing for both the child and the world... Private just kept reminding himself that there was no child, not yet, and what he was doing would stop the child's birth before he had even been conceived. Technically, that's not murder... right?

Shaking the doubt from his head and knowing that if he hesitated anymore he wouldn't go through with it, Private pulled a thick cable from the side of the pedestal that had been feeding directly into the egg. The egg whites, but no yolk, covered Private and the surrounding area in a sticky goo. He smiled sadly at the remains of the egg, trying not to think of the 'What if's' associated with a choice like this.

"You... what have you done?"

Fishy's outcry shocked Private. He jumped and turned towards the door, where Fishy stood with his beak gaping and his eyes wide. Private had probably looked very similar when he found out the terrible truth about this room.

Private's eyes sharpened, gazing coldly into his father's darker orbs, "Yes, father. I just saved the lives of any and all penguins you were going to make my sibling kill... including his or her own," Private didn't have the time to be shocked when he was suddenly pushed against the far wall, a sharp pain radiating from his gut. He looked up to be greeted by more pain -this time, to his beak.

Fishy chuckled coldly as he pinned Private to the ground with one talon while the boy struggled, "You've just ruined my life's work, boy. That egg had been as much trial as it had been error. To eliminate it had been to destroy years of research and development. Every other egg rejected the DNA. This one was taking it perfectly... and you destroyed it!" The talon was replaced by a wing, and Private found himself being choked, "All my careful planning, my life's dream: wasted!" He pressed an invisible button with his foot, and a trap door opened. This one, instead of leading to another section of the lab, only opened up to a small area, barely large enough to contain a full-sized penguin.

Private was thrown down into it, hitting the back of his head against a steel wall. Soon, darkness surrounded him and Private's natural instincts kicked in at the most inopportune time; he was shaking and his mind was screaming to get out of there but all he could do was stare in vain through a small gleam of light that came in from the outside.

Above him, Fishy sneered, "Ah, you think I know nothing about you, Private? I've been waiting for months; learning and listening and discovering your every weakness. You'll come out of there eventually..." Fishy continued coolly, "Once I re-adapt my formula to change the DNA of a near fully-grown penguin, of course. Then maybe you'll finally learn some respect!"

And with that, he stopped speaking and left, with the door closing behind him with a gentle hum. Private listened closely for any sounds that indicated that he'd come back. When he didn't, Private allowed himself a simple indulgence, one he had suppressed to keep Rico from stressing out, and one he had tried to keep from his father.

He panicked.

* * *

><p><strong>Terrible me, I've left you with another cliff-hanger. So yeah, Private's locked in a hole. Don't feel too bad, though: the others are planning his escape even as we speak. By the way, 11 full pages, making this the longest chapter I've ever written. EVER. =O<strong>

**Now, a few post-chapter notes:**

**I used a tomato-proof shielf last chapter... I am SO lame! :(**

**Believe it or not, I intended both the kiss scene b/w Marlene and Julian and the revelation that Fishy was actually a real-time villain. Actually, those two apparently random things have been planned from the start of this chapter. XD Just didn't know how I was going to include it...**

**The DNA coding sequence is not actually how to code DNA... well, it is, but in penguin. Oh, you know what I mean! The [REDACTED] thing was imported from the fandom of Portal. Oh, and I don't own that.**

**I don't believe that Private was truly 'murdering' his brother since he hadn't really been developed yet; it was all a bunch of random DNA waiting for a nucleus, at that point. Not an actual baby... not even an actual egg, as it didn't have a yolk yet. In a way, all he did was prevent conception. So PLEASE don't kill me for that. Oh, wait, I'll use the SHIELF to protect myself.**

**In the episode 'When The Chips Are Down', Private shows the classic signs of claustrophobia... that is, he can't stand tightly confined spaces. That is SO a good fanfiction topic. On top of his fear of badgers, he's claustrophobic... at this rate, one would almost feel sorry for Skipper.**

**Note: Fandom isn't in Open-office's vocab, but Fandango is... weird. Now, I'll go to sleep, cause it's One AM Eastern Standard Time. Goodnight.**


	4. Day Three

**Disclaimer: PoM does not belong to me.**

**A few notes:**

**Anonymous reviews are now allowed, thanks to Eppogirl and Kukipye. So if you want to leave an anonymous review, go ahead and thank them. BUT BE WARNED: If anyone spams me or if I receive a bunch of flames, I will turn anonymous reviews off again.**

**Sorry about not writing for months. (Sweatdrops)**

**Okay... now that stuff is done with... moving on with the chapter!**

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

The room was quiet.

Skipper and Kowalski were staring wide-eyed at the young private, whom was shivering lightly in his seat. The others simply looked away, apparently having already known about this section of the story. Only Rico placed a comforting wing on the childish penguin's shoulder, offering a little bit of comfort before the inevitable confrontation.

Finally, Skipper looked towards his options man, nodding. Kowalski took his cue and pressed a button on the camera, holding it a little before removing his wing and pressing a different button.

At the wide-eyed glances of the other penguins, Skipper simply raised an eyebrow, "Technical difficulties," He explained, "The camera's audio spontaneously turned off, leaving us to rewind the tape. All that needs to be re-said for the camera's sake is that Private thwarted his father's scheme before being captured."

"Wait," Maurice paused, gesturing with his hands, "So you mean to say you're-?"

"Enough talk, mammal," Skipper snapped, "Let's move on. Ringtail, what happened after that?"

"Right, so, after a long day of complexicated planning, we finally set out on the adventure of a lifetime! To epic glory and-!"

Skipper sighed, interrupting the lemur, "Just get on with it!"

* * *

><p><em>Day 3 -1930 Hours<em>

"Weapons check," Marlene recited, staring with determination at the paper in front of her. Rico, standing in front of her, nodded, "TNT cache," Rico nodded, hurling up the item, "Tool set," the red box flew out of the other penguin's beak, landing by her feet. She cringed, "Rocket Launcher," This time she had to glance away, only able to look back when she was confident the item was on the ground in front of her.

A metal clang sounded behind them, and both penguin and otter stared as Maurice clumsily stumbled out of a nearby closet, wearing Private's metal suit, "Uh, does anyone know how to work this thing?" He asked, just before a short 'beep' gave off from the suit, "Uh-oh," The Aye-Aye screamed as the rocket boots propelled him into the opposite wall, before falling a few feet to the ground. Good thing, too, otherwise the fall afterwords would have been a lot more painful... not that it already wasn't.

"Be getting a move on, peoples," Julian snapped from his position at the table, "We have less than one hour until sunset. Den, we will make our MOVE!" He smashed his fist down, meaning to slam it into the table, only for it to hit Mort's head. Ah, well. No harm done.

"Relax, Julian," Marlene sighed, mentally grateful that Rico was too busy with weapons planning to notice the Ring-Tailed lemur, "We have to make sure everything's ready before we just burst in there. One wrong move could mean Private's-" She paused to glance at Rico, then whispered to the lemur king, "D-E-A-T-H."

The king hummed curiously, putting the letters together, then snapped his fingers, "Oh, you mean Private's DEATH!" Rico looked up, alarmed and slightly angry. Julian hid quickly behind the otter standing next to him.

"Eh, she said it, not me," He grinned nervously.

The penguin and otter both rolled their eyes, "And who said you were in charge anyways?"

"Well, since de Skipper is abandoning his team in their time of need, I figured that it was my responsibility, as King, to take over for him."

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

Skipper's eye twitched.

"Oh dear," Private sighed, inching cautiously away from Julian.

Kowalski, in the same subtle motion, moved away from Skipper, "Shouldn't have said that."

"You're toast," Rico mumbled, also pulling himself away from the lemur. And not a moment too soon, for at that moment the penguin leader launched himself at his rival, screams and profanities escaping his beak as he attempted to beat the ring-tail into a bloody pulp. Luckily, Rico pulled him away before he could do any serious damage.

It took several minutes and another rewind, but finally Skipper calmed down enough to continue the story. He paused, taking a deep breath, "Okay. Continue."

* * *

><p><em>Day Three -2000 Hours<em>

"Alright, your Majesty," Maurice announced, staring at the dimming light in the sky with one paw shielding his already squinted eyes, "The sun's almost set. If we're going to be there by the time night falls, we need to leave now."

Julian nodded, turning towards the other four, "Alright, Throw-Uppy penguin, you lead the way to de evil penguin's hideout. I'll follow behind you."

"And what do I do?" Marlene asked, excitement bubbling into her eyes. It made Julian cringe.

"Er, yeah... I kind of..." The spark in Marlene's eyes abruptly went out, "I kind of need you to stay here," Marlene groaned, a sort of light depression coming over her eyes. It made Julian panic, "Er, dat is to say... you would be going wild outside the zoo, right? Dat wouldn't be much help in a stealth mission... and besides, someone needs to be keeping an eye on Mort!"

Said lemur looked up at Marlene with large, sad eyes. The girl sighed, clearly not impressed.

"And there's no other reason?" She inquired.

The King pouted thoughtfully, "Hmm, well-" but didn't quite get the chance to finish his sentence as the otter woman crashed their lips together for the second time. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, barely more than a peck, but it brought a silly smile to both their faces, "T-there is dat, too."

"'ey lovebirds!" Rico called in garbled tongue, annoyed, "Get a move on!"

Marlene blushed, moving away, "Alright... um, don't die."

"And what is dat supposed to mean?" Julian asked, mock-annoyed, "Of course I will not be dying, for I am king!"

The otter smirked, "Don't worry about it," and lightly brushed his arm before dragging Mort off towards the lemur habitat."

Julian stared at her as she left, then turned and sighed, "Ugh, women."

* * *

><p><em>Day Three -2040 Hours<em>

Darkness had completely enveloped the shed where Fishy and Private were hidden. The three heroes-in-waiting were safely surrounded by the leaves of a nearby tree as Rico examined the surroundings with a telescope, frowning at the lack of obvious traps. Either Fishy hadn't set any, or they were well-hidden beneath the combination of shadows and foliage. For their sake, Rico hoped it was the latter. For if it was the former... then Fishy surely must have been expecting them.

For the first time in three days, Rico missed Kowalski. He surely would've been able to spot any traps and tell them what to expect.

"Alright," Julian whispered from above him, "As de leader, I will be sneaking in first... after you two," and with that, Maurice and Rico fell from the tree, a shove from behind being the cause of their unbalance. Almost immediately, Rico grabbed the Aye-Aye and clamped his mouth shut, preventing the scream that would have given away their location. A moment later another weight fell on top of the two of them, Julian smiling semi-apologetically, "Let's get moving."

Rico and Maurice grumbled, one rubbing their head as they marched forward after the lemur. As they continued, Rico's stomach churned to notice that his first guess had been correct: there were no traps waiting for them. Which meant that Fishy expected them, and what they were about to find would be horrible. Maybe Private had been mutated. Or killed. Or maybe he had two heads now! It took all of Rico's limited self-control not to freak out and focus on the mission.

The trio approached the building stealthily, Rico on one side with Julian and Maurice on the other. Hacking up a bobby pin, Rico picked the lock as fast as he could. With one last click, the door flew open, giving the first glimpse as to the innards of the life Fishy and, for the past few days, Private led.

But something stood out. Something Rico had been genuinely afraid of. This was beyond mutated or killed. But, as he gazed around the disheveled room, he knew:

Private and Fishy were long gone.

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

"Now hold on," Skipper interrupted, "I thought Private was in that hidden lab place."

Maurice nodded, "Well, you know that, and he knew that, but we didn't know that. How could we? The place was so torn up, it's a miracle we could find anything in there."

"And dat is why I am hating de spoilers!" Julian complained, "Luckily for you, we did manage to find it, thanks to me!"

A few seconds of silence followed, before Skipper sighed, "All right. How did you find it?"

"I'm glad you asked," Julian exclaimed, "We spent about twenty minutes searching for any clues dey might have left behind..."

* * *

><p><em>Day Three -2054 Hours<em>

Of the three of them, Maurice and Rico were surprised to find Julian the most panicked.

"No," He cried, tossing the item he was looking at to the side. He then picked up another, "No," The Ring-tailed lemur then scurried over to another pile, his face growing more and more frantic, "NO! Dere is nothing here! Nothing at all!" The king looked ready to break down, "How am I supposed to be finding evidence to use in court if they are not being here?"

Rico's expression morphed to a mixture of shock and disgust. Maurice cocked his head to one side, "Wait, is that the only reason you came here?"

"Ye- er, no," The Ringtailed lemur grinned, "Of course I am being here to save de Private. You know, sweet, innocent, naïve little penguin with the accent... no, wait, dat's Kowalski."

Rico huffed in annoyance, causing the lemur to jump back... and trip over something. Gasping, he pushed the disheveled bedspread and other items out of the way to get to whatever he had tripped over and gasped at what he saw.

"Oh my gosh!" He exclaimed, pulling a beheaded penguin plush out of the muck, "We are being too late!" And Julian, being Julian, started sobbing, "We have failed... I HAVE FAILED! FORGIVE ME SKYSPIRITS!" The Aye-Aye and penguin exchanged a glance as Julian ran forward, "I will accept any punishment you give me for my failure!"

And, as if on cue, King Julian vanished beneath the floor.

Rico and Maurice gasped, rushing forward and staring down the trapdoor at the sprawled, moaning body of Julian.

"Well," Maurice turned towards Rico, "He did say he'd accept any punishment..."

The two quickly joined the lemur within the hallway. After Maurice helped his king off the ground, the trio stared down the blank hallway. Of course, the two lemurs stepped forward, but Rico held out one wing, preventing them from moving. He hacked up a smoke bomb which, upon filling the chamber, revealed multitudes of hidden red lights. Rico's eyes narrowed in determination as Julian and Maurice's widened in surprise.

"Whoa," commented the portly lemur, "Didn't see that coming."

Julian paused, deep in thought, "If he's bothering to keep de lasers on, dat must mean dat he is still here, which means... da Private upstairs must be an imposter!"

"So Private's down here?" Maurice wondered aloud, "In that case, we're gonna need to shut off these lasers."

That was all Rico needed to hear. Without prompting, the penguin leapt over the laser in front of him, landing on a thin patch of safe spot on the floor several feet in front of it. At this point he took a quick glance back at the lemurs to make sure they weren't following. When he confirmed this, he flipped to a nearby safespot near the wall, bouncing off of said wall and landing in the center of the laser field. Rico launched himself forward, rolling under a complex of lasers before jumping upward, over the last of the lasers. He landed, feet first, on the other side, a smirk on his face as he righted himself from his landing pose.

The lemurs, on the other side, stared on in shock.

Tossing his smirk backwards, Rico pressed the button on the far side that disabled the laser grid. Soon afterwords, he was joined by the Ringtail and Aye-Aye, all three nodding to each other as they moved to the room on the left.

The room was adorned with simply a computer screen, a keyboard and, in the center, an empty pedestal. The three wondered forward, Rico quickly sniffing around for any traps. When he detected none, he motioned for the lemurs to move towards the computer screen. While they ooh'ed and aah'd over images they couldn't understand, Rico stood not far from the pedestal, watching, impatiently waiting to see if any indication of Private's location ended up on the screen. As soon as it did...

Rico was cut off by a sound. A gentle, muffled sound, but it struck him as terribly familiar. But he couldn't tell; it was too well muffled. Giving off a 'hmm', Rico walked forward a few steps, only to feel a light, almost unnoticeable pressure pushing up on his feet. The bird jumped several feet away, before looking down and noticing hidden hinges on the ground. From the computer, Maurice and Julian turned around and stared at the sound of a blowtorch carefully melting the locks off the trapdoor.

When it finally swung open, what felt like hours later, Rico's mouth gaped.

Finally, there, in front of him, was Private, alive, staring at him with those bright blue eyes. His feathers were ruffled (a clear sign that a penguin was bruising), especially around the neck, and a hysterical glaze covered his eyes. He stared up at the elder penguin for a moment, as if not believing it himself, before throwing himself out of the hole and into Rico's surprised wings.

"Rico!" He cried, visibly trying not to burst into tears. Rico just stood, stunned, until it occurred to him to wrap his wings around the younger penguin, simply allowing him to let all the anguish that had built up over the last few days flow out.

"Private!" Maurice exclaimed, running up to the young penguin. The aye-aye looked him over carefully, being wary of injury, "You alright?"

Before the young penguin could open his beak, a cold, humorless voice echoed from the nearby doorway, "Why, my dear Private, the least you could have done was told me we had guests. I would have poisoned a cake!"

The four males turned and stared, in shock, at the angered form of Sam Fishy.

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

"DUN DUN DUN!" Mort shouted at the top of his lungs. Each person turned a glare in the direction of the smallest lemur.

"Do you mind?" Skipper snapped, emphasizing the word _mind_.

Mort, embarrassed, curled his tail around his body and mumbled into the fur, "Please continue."

* * *

><p><em>Day Three -2100 Hours<em>

"Surprised to see me?" The elder bird had a cruel smile on his face. The feathers on the back of his neck were standing up -a sign of anger- but his eyes held an eerie calm. His attention turned to Rico, "Aren't you afraid? Violation of Paternal Rights could mean death."

Julian was the first to reply, though whether he's courageous or stupid is debatable, "Unless said rights are wavered by past criminal activity, which YOU'VE done!"

"So my past transgressions are no longer a secret?" The penguin shook his head, "No matter. Unfortunately, I cannot allow word of my location to reach the Main Antarctic Militia, so I'm afraid I cannot allow you to leave this room."

"And how are you going to stop us?" The lemur king demanded.

The cruel smile upon Fishy's beak seemed to widen as he stepped backwards, "That, my sweet little simpleton, is not so hard to figure out." And with that, he stepped backwards, out of the room, and the door slid shut behind him.

Of all of the people remaining in the room, only Private seemed truly panicked by this point. He ran to the door, attempting to open it, then turned back to the others when this failed, fear written plain as day on his face.

"What do we do now?"

Julian looked to Rico nonchalantly, "Well? Can't you be doing something about that door?"

With narrowed eyes, Rico regurgitated a lit dynamite, chucking it at the door. A few moments later, the resulting explosion caused the door to fly directly into the laser grid, resulting in multiple laser turrets shooting it until nothing remained but a smoldering pile of metal.

All four males poked their heads out of the now empty door frame, staring at the smoldering pile. Private, without warning, burst into laughter, the other three staring at him oddly.

"A-all those precautions he made... all his supposed research... and he hadn't prepared for Rico's Amazing Gut!" The boy continued laughing until Rico shook him violently, "Err, right. We gonna go catch him?"

"But of course!" The King proclaimed, "E's caused too much trouble just to let him go!"

Maurice leaned out of the doorway, deactivating the laser field once again, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get moving!"

* * *

><p><em>Day Three -2120 Hours<em>

Marlene has stayed atop the clock tower, watching her friends through penguin-brand binoculars until they were well out of sight. Mort had been sated with a pair of shoes she'd claimed Julian had worn. It was a lie, but the little lemur seemed content to snuggle with them in place of his King.

It had been some time, though, and the otter was getting worried. She couldn't read any of the penguin's language, but remembered what Julian told her: Sam Fishy was ruthless, coming up with cruelly creative ways to take out whomever gets in his way: Marlene shivered to think of the fate of the last penguin to battle him directly. But as much as she wanted to help, she was stuck on Mort-sitting duty.

With a sigh, she wondered allowed, "Man, when are they coming back?"

Without warning, two wings grasped the female's arm, slamming her into the structure that held the clock. It took Marlene several moments to realize she was in the grip of Sam Fishy.

The penguin smiled at her, cruel and confident, "Oh, trust me, love, they're not coming back anytime soon," Fishy then proceeded to sigh, "I've lost so much time and research on this little venture... I'll have to make up for it with my next scheme," His glaring eyes seem to soften a bit, "Unfortunately, I can't allow the Main Antarctic Militia to know where I am, so... it seems you cannot be allowed to live."

It wasn't the words themselves, but the way he said them, calmly, as if he was discussing idle gossip instead of making a death threat, that spooked Marlene. After a moment, she found her voice and managed to stutter out, "W-what about the others? Mort and Maurice and Julian and Rico..."

Fishy snorted, "Half of the names you've just listed belong to ninnies, dear girl! And the other half... well..." The smile shifted, becoming cold; satisfied, "They wouldn't be seeing anyone anytime soon, so I supposed it doesn't matter."

For a terrible moment of time, Marlene believed what he said. Horrible images of what could have possibly happened to her friends went through her mind, before a glance behind her made her grin widely.

"Smiling in the face of death?" Fishy snorted, "You're either incredibly confident or incredibly optimistic... and I'm not sure I like either of those things."

"Not confident. Not optimistic," Marlene corrected, "Relieved."

"Relieved?" A look of fear appeared on the penguin's face as he spun around, loosening his grip on the otter in the process. Marlene broke free of his hold and scampered off to one side, grasping a metal pipe she had stored off to the side just in case.

Certainly enough, behind the elder penguin was a group of four: the obnoxious lemur, wearing a crown and glaring at him, some resemblance of knowledge hiding behind pure confidence; his sidekick, harsh eyes piercing at him as he stood, his weight even, his arms crossed; his son, pupils nervous but lit with a fire that could only come from the greatest of protective instincts; and standing in front, stance wide like a sumo wrestler, was the one called Rico. The unexpected threat.

Fishy played it cool, walking in one direction, while the others moved in the same direction, creating a counter-clockwise circle, "So, what have we here? The rejects come to arrest me?" He smirked, "Oh, how frightening."

"Sticks and stones may break my bones," Julian recited, "but your words may never hurt me. For I am de king, and de king is immunitized to word attacks."

"In that case," Fishy smirked, confident, "Why don't we play with sticks and stones?" And with that, he pounced forward.

Rico bound forth as well, meeting Fishy in a head-on collision. The two tumbled back, nearly falling off the clock tower in the process. Instead, they merely wrestled there, moving left and right as dominance changed between them. Finally, when Rico was on his back for the fifth or so time, he kicked Fishy off, knocking him half-way across the tower. In mid-air, Fishy flipped, landing on his feet and skidding backwards slightly. He grinned.

"Not bad, old boy," He wiped some grime off his beak, "Now let's see how you handle the next level!"

Once again Fishy charged towards Rico. The psychotic penguin, in response, charged back, ready for another head-on collision. Instead, Fishy shifted his weight in one direction, skidding to a stop as Rico ran past. Upon realizing the trick, Rico skidded to a halt himself, only to be tackled by an already prepared Fishy. At this point, he had pinned Rico to the wall of the clock tower with one wing, preventing any movement from the scarred bird, despite repeated struggling.

He had to admit: For an old, frail looking bird, Sam Fishy was strong. Almost... unnaturally so. The bruising on Private wasn't so much of a surprise anymore.

Fishy's grin turned savage, pulling a switchblade with one wing, "Always come prepared!" He laughed maniacally, a sort of madness different from Rico's taking over his eyes. He poised the blade up, getting a clear shot at Rico's chest.

Rico winced, preparing for the strike.

"NO!"

And, without warning, Fishy disappeared from Rico's sight, a dark blur against a dark setting. If Rico squinted, he could almost make out another, smaller form on top of him...

And Rico's mind spun as the smaller form went flying off of the larger one and over the edge of the tower.

Nothing came to Rico's mind at first. It was surreal, intangible, as if he were watching a movie or staring at a painting. Fishy picked himself up, dusting off his feathers. And that was when Rico saw red.

He charged, grasping Fishy around the waist, and together the two psychotic birds went tumbling over the edge of the clocktower, landing on the ground. It was then that Rico found himself gently pulled off of Fishy. He would have growled at the person, had it not been a nervous looking Marlene surrounded by... penguins?

"It's alright, Rico," She explained, "While you guys were gone I... kinda called for back-up. Julian didn't think things through much, did he?" She smiled and murmured, affectionately, "That idiot."

The penguin troops rushed past Rico, grabbing at Sam Fishy, whom struggled at them until bonds of a metal the scarred bird had never seen before were snapped onto his wrist. Some super-strength alloy, from the way Fishy couldn't break free of them.

None of that mattered at the moment. Rico quickly moved past the officers to where Maurice and a penguin medic were tending to Private. He ignored the medic's warning to stand clear and smirked when Maurice pulled him to the side, allowing him access to the young soldier.

Most of the wounds had been dealt with: a wrapped wing, a few bruises with some lotion smothered on them to prevent him from feeling pain. Private was, miraculously, conscious, and smiled weakly upon noticing Rico.

"So... Fishy's not coming back?" He asked timidly, and smiled wider at Rico's consenting nod, "Thank goodness that's over!" He leaned up, slowly, and placed his non-damaged wing over Rico's, "And thank you for everything. I- I couldn't have gone through this without you."

Rico was surprised when, instead of nausea, he felt a deep pang in his gut. It wasn't painful, just unfamiliar. Nevertheless, he ignored it, instead choosing to take the younger penguin in his wings, hugging him close, and trying to prevent himself from growling at the unfamiliar roughness of the bandaging. Beyond a small sniffle from Private, the moment held together with no sounds.

It was shortly after they broke this hug that Julian, with the other mammals trailing behind them, came up to the duo of birds, "Well, dat was a fun way to spend de last few days."

"'Fun' is not the word I'd use," Maurice commented, before smiling at Private, "But I'm glad you're alright, kid."

He nodded in return, "Thanks Maurice. And thank you all for everything you've done."

"Not being a problem!" The lemur king commented, smiling, "Anything to prove dat I am just as good as any penguin lawyer. Which I am. In your face, Pluma!" With this last line, he turned towards a penguin lawyer, who just huffed and turned away, not acknowledging the group, "Well, der's only one thing left to do before dis is all over."

Marlene frowned, "The trial?"

"Huh? Oh no, dey'll be using tapes of de debriefing in de trial," Julian shook his head, "No, I was talking about-"

"SWEET SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS! What's going on here?"

The group turned around to see a highly confused Skipper, accompanied by Kowalski, who was taping together his broken clipboard.

Julian frowned, "-telling de Skipper."

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

"And then," Mort continued, "We were dragged down here, waited a half hour and den you came in and began recording Private as he said-"

"MORT!" Everyone shouted, causing the small lemur to recoil.

Skipper shook his head, "I'm not sure I understand all this, but you've all been through a lot," He turned to the camera, "Debriefing ended at precisely 2400 hours. Agent Skipper out."

And with that, the camera was shut off.

* * *

><p><em>Day Four- 0100 Hours<em>

"Rico?" The psychotic penguin sighed, tiredly, as he looked up, surprised to see Private suspended in the air parallel to his bunk, "I-I couldn't sleep. Do you mind if-?"

Without even needing him to finish the sentence, Rico pushed himself back against the wall, making room for his younger teammate. Private smiled gratefully, sliding into the bunk next to Rico. On the floor below them, Skipper smiled subtly, taking a small sip of his coffee as he watched the exchange. Tomorrow, this would all seem like a horrible dream. Things would, for the most part, get back to normal. But there was one thing they couldn't reverse, even if they tried.

Or at least, so said the way Private snuggled up trustingly next to a penguin who, just three days ago, wouldn't have even entertained the idea.

* * *

><p><strong>IT'S DONE. FINALLY.<strong>

**I'm sorry if the ending failed. I really am... Also, I swear I tried to make it shorter, I did. But it... just kinda wrote itself... no comment.**

**Also, please note that this story, unless I write a sequel (Probably not, though) will not effect any other PoM story I write. Actually, none of my stories are related, so yeah...**

**Apologies for the wait. I will try harder to make creative juices flow faster.**


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